The only show in town

Gordon Brown thinks he has done a fine thing. Admit defeat of a sort but suggest that all parties are losers. Tell the nation he will quit as Labour leader but say he will stay on as prime minister until the progressive coalition has had a chance to "secure the economy". Then give some kind of rousing speech at the Labour conference, wish his successor well and depart for a cushy job like top bottlewasher at the IMF. That's the game plan. It's eagerly being taken up by the likes of Peter Hain, always the opportunist.

Thankfully such minds as David Blunkett's are coming out against it. So is John Reid. Labour could join up with the LibDems and form a minority government, with the Nats acting as whipping boys in order to secure votes in the House. Perfectly possible, but exceedingly unstable and likely to anger the electorate.

Far better for the Tories and LibDems to form a stable coalition and knuckle down to deal with the deficit. And I hope we won't all carp and criticise when they take difficult decisions. We don't want to end up like Greece or worse. So the only show in town is the Cameron and Clegg coalition. Anything else is a non-viable non-starter.